Being a Brit living in New York, one of the things I feared
the most was how will I be able to survive without the Premier League, as the
MLS has no local team for me to follow and if I am being kind, MLS does not
reach the level of Championship standards (Tier 2 Premier League) to which I am
accustomed.
I live in the suburbs of Long Island so do not have the
luxury of easy access to Manhattan’s many bars that attract tourists to watch
games, so many times I find myself in my basement, without any mates other than
my two dogs at my side, and only bottles of Stella and stale chips—those being
Doritos--to keep me company. Can’t
even be bothered to buy Guinness as not on tap…no point.
All of a sudden, The World Cup arrives and America wakes up
to the beautiful game-- and lo and behold-- I have people to socialize with and
enjoy the sport that I have known all my life.
England played as their usual disappointing selves, --the good
news was I did not have to read the ridiculous hype of the newspapers in the UK.
Interestingly, none of the sports
media companies in the USA thought England would qualify from the group of
former champions plus Costa Rica.
The American press was supportive of the National side. No one around the globe gave them
any chance of surviving the group of death and moving to the round of 16, but
the US verve was truly amazing, as they believed in their team which was well
justified as they had a group of players that would give every last drop of
effort, a manager with conviction that stood alongside them, and a goalkeeper
that became a national hero.
Jurgen Klinsmann was truly a world-class player, who played
at the highest level.
He was offered a huge pay rise to manage in the Premier
League, but wanted to finish a job he started as the USA National Team Manager. Much respect.
USA were in “the group of death”, and had to play Ghana, Portugal
& Germany, in that order, so if they stood any chance they had to beat the
African Champions in the opener.
With guts and team spirit, achieved the win. Next up was Portugal—they were thirty seconds away from the
win which would have given them automatic qualification, naivety allowed
Ronaldo the chance to play one great cross and let the Portuguese snatch a
point. The final game produced a narrow loss to Germany that made for some of
the most compelling moments in the entire Cup.
Tim Howard who we all know in England as a quality keeper
plays for Everton in the Premier League. He became a star for USA. The stats show that he made the
most saves in any single game (vs. Germany) and kept the score respectable.
USA could have snatched a winner in the last couple of
minutes, but they still qualified as Portugal beat Ghana and the USA got to
play Belgium in the last 16.
The support across the nation was just incredible and the TV
ratings were the highest ever for soccer, If you add all the out of home
viewing numbers, it was the most watched game other than the Super Bowl.
The loss was actually a win as the USA went through for the
second consecutive tournament, and the whole country had a renewed belief that
Belgium were there for the taking.
Belgium was a seeded team that won all three of their group games,
but were not convincing.
This gave
the nation belief that USA could win.
What they did not realize was that Belgium would step up and
had quality all over the field, and proved to be a force to be reckoned with.
USA gave everything and certainly did not lack character,
and the manager gave them self-belief.
Belgium was just too strong.
What next for team USA-- a hero’s welcome, and plenty of
media reports that this sport does not usually get.-- and a nation proving that
it has an appetite for the sport.
So the question remains, how do they bridge the gap and
become a real player in world soccer?
MLS is twenty years old so in terms of the world sport an
infant, but they have to be more active within the grassroots of the sport, if
soccer is the most played sport within the teenage population, then what is
going on with these kids when they leave high school and attend college?
People say it is the fact that college soccer does not have
the same support as Football or Basketball, but what they are really saying is
that the media does not pay the big bucks to televise so they do not invest.
It costs $100m to purchase an expansion franchise for MLS,
then you have to build a stadium another $250-$300m, then you have to build an
infustructure which will include players and coaches, back office, sales and
marketing plus a budget to position yourself in the market which could run to
another $75-$100m.
So before you play your first game boom!! up to $500m, if you
add in a state of the art training facility for youth teams and first team that
could add even more.
They have cities waiting in line to become the next team so
no shortage of money.
The problem is you have to build from the grassroots up, so
all the existing teams must work with the local community in nurturing the
youth, providing great coaches, great facilities and competition, as you learn
the most in this game by pushing harder, challenging yourself by playing better
opposition.
The USA national team has to have the best selection to
choose from and the best coaches to teach them, and support from the MLS and
its franchise teams.
You cannot rely on a draft system as with other sports in
this country as they are not competing on a world basis.
The teams have to support a grassroots system like every
other league in the world.
You may be thinking that it works well enough so far we have
achieved the top 16 for the past two tournaments.
If that is the objective then great its working, I would like
to see more, compete in the top 8 or the top 4, if that is the case you need to
have better coaches working with kids and that has to come from the professional
teams not the schools.
USA is on the cusp of a wave and has to take advantage now, grasp the sport and want to be the best of the best.
The MLS has achieved an amazing TV broadcast deal with ESPN & Fox Sports from next season, NewYork FC will enter the league along with Orlando FC, the designated players signed are David Villa & Kaka two great players, and possibly Frank Lampard.
I really hope that a portion of the money and sponsorship will be re-invested in grassroots and small sided games to allow the youth policy a chance to grow and provide great players who can compete on the worlds stage.
I will be watching closely and update my views over the coming season, especially looking forward to the start of the Premier League.
